Xinjiang Travel Notes 07 – Revisiting Kalajun

It was already half past three when we had lunch, and we were already hungry. After a simple meal, it was already a quarter past four, so we took the cable car to the Kalajun Grassland. On the boat, we have already experienced the whole view of the cableway. Because it is far away, the cableway station is located in an empty shed, and there is only one cable car. It looks slow and leisurely, and I thought it was a gondola for freight. The cableway stands on a high promontory at the intersection of the Kurdai River and Kuoksuhe. Across the Kurdai River is a towering cliff. The cable car suspended in the air is so lonely and small, even with such a gentle wind. The sun is shining, but it still gives people a sense of vicissitudes of life and even desolation.
The cableway space is as big as a van. There are no seats. More than thirty people can stand at one time. It is not as small as it seems from a distance. As the cable car rises, you can see the scenery more comprehensively. The water surface of Kalajun Lake shows a variety of colors, including some turbidity and whiteness at the Kurdai River, clear water at the Kuokesu River, and clear water at the Kurdai River. Looking at it, white yurts are dotted on the green grass by the river. Several friends said that it would be comfortable to live there. Another friend said that it would be very expensive to stay there. The staff on the cable car said that it was a yurt hotel and it was a bit expensive. I don’t remember clearly, so I won’t tell you.

The cableway station in Kalajun is better than the cableway station in Kuertai. There is a large parking lot outside the cableway station. The clouds have blocked nearly half of the sky . At this time, when the sun is directly overhead , it is still very hot .

Kalajun grassland has luxuriant water and grass in summer, a cool climate, and few mosquitoes and flies, which is very beneficial for livestock to catch fat. Every year, more than 300,000 large and small livestock come here to spend the summer. This grassland is not only large, but also has excellent grass quality. Most of the pastures are high-quality grasses, leguminous plants, and asteraceae plants. It is said that the Kazakhs also have a term for this grassland called "Khanjayilao". "Khan" means king or prince, and "Gayilao" means summer pasture. On the other hand, "Khan" represents the grade of the grassland, and the grassland is designated as "imperial". According to legend, King Wusun once used this grassland with lush water and grass as a summer pasture, giving this grassland more mystery. In the early 1980s, experts and officials from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations visited here for inspection. After evaluation, they considered it to be one of the few first-class natural grasslands in the world. The coverage rate of pasture accounts for 90%-100% of the grassland, and the grass layer height reaches 65-100 cm. The grass production and livestock carrying capacity are among the best in the Yili area.

Kalajun Scenic Area is divided into two parts, East Kalajun and West Kalajun, with no physical separation between them. The Xikalajun Scenic Area is dominated by rolling hilly landscapes. The scenic area mainly includes Hopeful Terrace, Marmot Habitat, Liangyitai, Dielang Valley, Shiquan, Yinma Bay, Yishu, etc. Attractions. Liangyitai and Dielanggu are located to the north and south of the cableway station respectively. They need to be reached on foot. Because I didn’t know what attractions there were at the moment, I didn’t go to these two spots. It is said that Dielang Valley is a typical hilly grassland with cascading greenery in summer, making it a good place for photography.
The scenic bus took us directly to Shiquan Viewpoint. There was no parking and nothing special in the marmot habitat. Shiquan Viewpoint is an endless alpine grassland with snow-capped mountains in the distance. The scenery is very beautiful. When hiking in Kalajun, we climbed up from a steep canyon to the Kalajun grassland. There was a trumpet at the top of the canyon, extending to both sides. The canyon was covered with tall spruce trees. When we came up, we left On the side, there is a slender ridge with only grass, which is a good place to take pictures. I didn't expect to find that place, but I still had the urge in my heart, so I searched in the possible direction (east by south) and compared it little by little, but I couldn't find it. I felt that the mountain pass must be there, and it was impossible not to miss it, so I searched slowly again. Suddenly my eyes lit up. It was almost directly in front of me. The mountain pass at the far end of the grassland had spruce trees on the left and green mountain ridges on the right. , and then look to the right, a "concave" shaped hill can be distinguished, and the trailhead has been found! There are some houses on the grass. I don’t remember whether I discovered them last time.

After I finished doing this, the two ladies also finished taking photos, so they returned to the bus stop and continued riding to the next viewing point. We didn't stop at Yishu, Wusunxiadu and other places. There was an introduction to the car's horn, but the sound was a bit low and unclear, so it wasn't very real. Spruces grow in large tracts, and a solitary tree grows in the middle of the hillside, far away from the woods. Instead, it has become a landmark and scenic spot for herdsmen.
Occasionally there are houses on the grassland, a certain distance from the road. They should be herdsmen's houses. There are not many in number, and there are more new ones than old ones. Some "poor people" who have a certain financial ability especially like to take pictures of some ruins, including half-collapsed mud houses, euphemistically calling them ancient, and if there are new buildings or renovations, they criticize them as destruction, and so on. Sometimes I really want to ask them why they need planes, high-speed trains and cars to travel. Walking barefoot is the most primitive way. If you are chasing updates on your mobile phone, why don't you get a pair of homing pigeons? Society is developing and times are updating. It is inevitable to demolish the old and build new ones. Of course, how to protect and record them must also be paid attention to.
After passing a tree, you will arrive at Dongkarajun. Dongkarajun is located in the depths and is also the essence of the entire grassland. The most famous ones here are Wuhua Meadow, Flower Terrace, and Kurdai. There are five scenic spots: the Forest Grand Canyon, the Three-pole Plane Observation Deck and the Falcon Tower Observation Deck. They include snow-capped mountains, grassland scenery, forest canyons, etc. The scenery is diverse and very beautiful.
After passing the World Heritage Exhibition Center, the car entered the north side of the hillside. Here is a gentle valley. Before this, there is a tractor road leading to the south. After walking for a while on the north side of the hillside, when I turned around, the meadows on both sides were filled with flowers. After getting off the car, the signboard told me that this is the most wonderful five-flower grassland and flower platform in Kalajun. The parking lot is at the top of the slope of the road. Looking down, there is a dirt road on the left side at the bottom of the slope. I immediately understood that this is where we rested when we were unable to contact the caravan while hiking.
There is a hill on the south side of the parking lot, one or twenty stories high. There is a wooden plank road leading to the top of the mountain. This hillside is the Five Flower Grassland, and the top of the hill is the Flower Terrace. There were not many tourists taking photos on the hillside, and most of them had left the plank road. I didn't stop and walked to the top of the slope. Looking south, I saw the stretching prairie connected to the snow-capped mountains. The ground was covered with flowers. The place where I rested last time This place is only one or two hills away from where I am now. I can see it clearly. It was an unintentional act. That loss of contact gave us enough time to fully appreciate the most beautiful place in Kalajun. God's will?
There are many clouds in the sky, and they move very fast. Sometimes we are in the shadow of the clouds, and sometimes we are in the sun. The clouds cast their shadows on the grassland, creating a different scene. I walked around the top of the mountain, and two ladies came up. They were immediately fascinated by the scenery in front of them, and started taking pictures there. After a while, they simply sat on the grass and refused to leave. The top of the mountain is very big and open, and there are only about ten or twenty tourists in total, so they can enjoy it as much as they can. Not far away, there were seven or eight young people with accents that sounded like they were from Changsha. They were very happy, jumping and lying on the grass. They took pictures there from various angles, showing off their youthful vitality. After a while, there was one who was a little fatter. The girl simply wrapped up her clothes and rolled up the grass slope.

The two ladies were taking photos of the scenery, flowers and people. The portraits were mostly self-portraits, and occasionally they took photos of each other. Perhaps they were still in high spirits, so they asked me to take a few photos of them with my camera. After that, I also asked them to take a few photos of me, and I even took a photo of them doing a shoulder stand.
We started down the mountain from different routes. I wasn't interested in close-ups of flowers and plants. On the plank road, I met a few photography enthusiasts, or photographers. The young ones were about 50 years old. Each of them had a big bag, a tripod, and most of them had two cameras on their shoulders. They were fiddling with close-ups of the scenery. They probably didn't know each other very well. Their polite words were conceited or humble.
Beside the plank road, there was a little girl, about 4 or 5 years old, chubby, wearing thick clothes, with a Mud on little hands It's painted in a fancy way, The clothes were dirty, and there were two white lambs beside her. The child was very cute. I was going to take a photo of both the child and the lamb, and leave something for her. A few people in front of me took a photo of the child and the lamb. The sweet "you have to pay" made me feel sad. Later, I thought about it again, this request was very natural. The child's parents put the child and the sheep on the roadside, didn't they want to "do some business"? What is there on this grassland? Only the child and the sheep are theirs. They may not know what is in the outside world, let alone what is useful to them, except "money".

Kalajun was relatively dry this year. When we were hiking for kilometers through the scenic spot, the pond was so big at the time and full of plants. It was the place we focused on taking photos. When the car passed by, the pond dried up. The grass and flowers in Kalajun this year are not as good as when we hiked 2 years ago, maybe because of the lack of water.

We arrived It was almost 7 o'clock when we stopped at the Falcon Terrace parking spot. This is the end point of the Kala Junjing delivery. On the way here, I vaguely heard the driver say that the last bus was at 8 o'clock. From here, you can go to the third-level planation surface, Falcon Terrace, and Kurdai Forest Grand Canyon.
The Kurdai Great Forest Canyon originates from the central part of Tianshan Mountain and is more than 50 kilometers, with a height difference of more than 2,300 meters at both ends of the canyon and an average valley depth of about 350 meters. From southeast to northwest "Several" Glyph It runs through the entire Kalajun tourist area. Walking into the Grand Canyon, the mountains on both sides The cliffs are steep, the peaks are undulating, the snow-capped spruce is everywhere, and the Kurdai River flows continuously all year round. The upper part of the canyon is covered with layers of snow-capped spruce, while the lower part is covered with snow-capped spruce. As the altitude decreases, many dense-leaved poplars, Tianshan birch, walnuts, wild apricots, and cherries grow. Li, from spring to early autumn, the canyon is covered with green clouds, lush and green, and dense leaves in late September The leaves of poplars and birches begin to turn yellow, while wild apricot trees and small shrubs begin to turn yellow. Gradually turning red, in October, the red leaves in the canyon are like fire and the yellow leaves are like gold, dazzling and eye-catching. People deeply feel the tranquility and vastness of coexisting with nature.

The Falconry Terrace is a traditional falconry training site for the Kazakh people. Kazakh falconers are known as the The last falconer in the world, skilled in using various birds of prey to hunt wild beasts and birds. The male eagle (golden eagle) hunts wolves and foxes, and the medium-sized birds of prey such as peregrine falcons and goshawks hunt swans and pheasants. This skill is passed down from generation to generation.

Planation surface is a special geographical landscape mainly composed of The erosion and leveling process occurs, cutting through all strata that are older than it in cross section. and tectonic structure, which is the ultimate product of the long-term development of landforms and the structure of landforms destroyed or buried by uplift. The north and south slopes of the Tianshan Mountains are widely developed with three levels of planation surfaces extending in the east-west direction. Each level of planation surface is a series of steps and observation decks.
Kalajun Natural Plants quilt There are 8 There are 39 populations and 1,594 species of vascular plants distributed vertically among the mountains. Trees generally grow on the shady slopes, while the sunny slopes are mostly grasslands, forming the yin-yang face phenomenon of the mountain. This is because the yin and yang slopes of the valley have different requirements for water and heat conditions. The shady slope has low evaporation and high humidity, so trees grow luxuriantly, while the sunny slope has high evaporation and less water, which is suitable for grass growth. Looking from afar, the Kurdai Forest is The dark green snow-capped spruce belts and the green grassland on both sides of the canyon are like a mosaic. The staggered distribution forms a rich and diverse "speckled forest" belt, extending hundreds of kilometers from east to west. Thousands of meters, the grassland is rolling, the slopes are full of flowers and grass, the grassland and forest blend together, the snow-capped peaks and the river valleys The scenery is extremely spectacular.
The parking lot is not big. There is a wide plank road to the south. There is a market built with canvas beside the plank road, but only a few stalls are open. Xiaoxia said that it is about 2-3 kilometers to the Falcon Terrace, and asked us to go there and come back quickly. W said that she was tired and did not want to go to the Falcon Terrace. She and Xiaoxia waited for us in the parking lot. C also said that I walked faster than her, so I don't need to worry about her, and we can go wherever she goes.
Before I went to the Falcon Tower, I took my jacket with me just in case. There were already very few people going to the Falcon Tower, and even fewer people walking. Most of them went there on horseback. The Kazakh riders, who were mostly young people, rode their horses and galloped away with tourists, leaving behind laughter or screams. I originally planned to walk only a section, to the end of the ridge, and look south. The ridge was very flat. I walked a long section, about one kilometer, and still hadn't seen the end. I was a little unwilling to give up. The slope had already changed from slowly going up to slowly going down, and the slope was getting steeper and steeper.
Finally, I saw a group of people sitting, taking pictures or playing on the slope in front of me. I guess we are almost there. The slope has become a bit steep, and some rough rocks are exposed from the grass. I can feel that there is a cliff not far ahead. I can see a row of protective railings and two observation decks on the top of the cliff.
Below the viewing platform is a cliff of more than 100 meters, with many strange rocks and a bit scary. It is a perfect place to exercise courage, perseverance and eyesight. The Kurdai River is rushing in the canyon under the cliff. The opposite flat surface is clearly displayed, and the spotted forest is dotted. This is a perfect place for soaring, no wonder it was chosen as a falcon platform.

I was about to retreat when Ms. C also arrived. Seeing that there were many tourists on the hillside, I didn't rush her and asked her to go to the two viewing platforms. When we came from the parking lot, the sky was full of clouds, and I was worried that it would rain. But now there were a lot less clouds, and it was impossible to rain. Of course, there was no rainbow either. When we reached the top of the slope, the sun came out, and C went to take pictures of flowers and plants from time to time. I had to wait for her, because many people were riding back, and there were basically only two of us on foot. I couldn't let her be alone. behind.
After feeling relaxed, I remembered hiking here 2 years ago. I felt that the camping spot on the first day was somewhere to the north, so I searched for possible directions, especially the hillside where I got up early to take pictures of the sunrise. There are those few trees. When you look up, you will see the mountain ridge at the farthest point in front of you. The place blocked under the mountain ridge is the camping spot. The mountain ridge is the place to get up early and take pictures.
The temperature was dropping rapidly. Near the Falcon Terrace, I had already put on my jacket. When I returned to the parking spot, Xiaoxia had also put on her jacket, and Ms. W even put on a thin down jacket.

Many people passed by us again, but we were very close to the parking spot. There were still about ten minutes until 8 o'clock, and there were still a few people behind us. So, I stopped urging me to leave quickly and took the opportunity to take some photos of the flowers on the grassland.